Former Victorian captain Rachael Haynes was prominent as NSW won their ninth straight Women’s National Cricket League one-day title with a seven-wicket victory over her former team in wet conditions on Sunday.
The match at North Sydney Oval was reduced to 20 overs a side and started almost five and a half hours late at 3.25pm, the latest possible time for it to commence.
Set 112 for victory after sending Victoria in, NSW got home with seven balls to spare, with Haynes (33 not out off 29 balls) hitting the winning runs to clinch the Breakers 16th title in 18 years.
Most of the match was played in drizzle and under floodlights.
“I think we played under some pretty trying conditions,” Breakers captain Alex Blackwell said.
“I questioned them (the umpires) as to how heavy it was going to have to get to actually come off the ground.
“We were really pleased that we were able to get out there and win this trophy rather than just through a washout.”
VicSpirit captain Kelly Applebee was happy to at least have the chance to play when a washout seemed inevitable for most of the day.
“We were pushing every little thing we could possibly do to get on and have a crack,” Applebee said.
“To our girls, well done for being bold and having a crack at it.”
Australian star Meg Lanning (49 of 48) struck seven of the Spirit’s ten fours, but no one else made more than 12.
The Spirit were placed at 1-50, but lost wickets at regular intervals, with left-arm medium-pacer Haynes (3-20 off 4 overs) and spinner Erin Osborne (2-16 off 4) the main wicket-takers.
NSW lost Alyssa Healy (4 off 6) early, but two solid partnerships thwarted Victoria’s bid for their first WNCL title since 2005.
Leah Poulton (48 off 48) added 48 with Blackwell (26 off 29), before the latter was run out by a direct hit from Jess Cameron at square leg.
Poulton then added 55 with Haynes, who is in her third season with the Breakers, before being dismissed five runs short of the target.
“Needing under a run a ball we were pretty confident,” said Blackwell, who along with Poulton has played in each of the last nine winning NSW teams.
“It was a little bit slow at times, but the girls held their composure really well.”
